The Cleaners

Dive into a secret, third-world shadow industry of online content moderation. Here we meet five "digital scavengers," a handful of thousands of people outsourced from Silicon Valley whose job is to delete "inappropriate" content from the Internet. In a parallel struggle, we meet people around the globe whose lives are dramatically affected by online censorship. A typical "cleaner" must observe and rate thousands of intense images every day, from war zone photography to pornography, leading to lasting psychological impacts. Underneath their work lie profound questions around what makes an image art or propaganda and what defines journalism. Debut directors Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck unpack an urgent conversation surrounding Silicon Valley's control over our perception of free speech that we must all grapple with as it threatens to unravel the fabric of our society.—Sundance Film Festival

In English and Tagalog with English subtitles

JUSTICE MATTERS

The Cleaners

Dive into a secret, third-world shadow industry of online content moderation. Here we meet five "digital scavengers," a handful of thousands of people outsourced from Silicon Valley whose job is to delete "inappropriate" content from the Internet. In a parallel struggle, we meet people around the globe whose lives are dramatically affected by online censorship. A typical "cleaner" must observe and rate thousands of intense images every day, from war zone photography to pornography, leading to lasting psychological impacts. Underneath their work lie profound questions around what makes an image art or propaganda and what defines journalism. Debut directors Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck unpack an urgent conversation surrounding Silicon Valley's control over our perception of free speech that we must all grapple with as it threatens to unravel the fabric of our society.—Sundance Film Festival